Apple Ibook G4 startup issues

Hello, I am having problems with my Apple G4 Ibook. I am having a problem with my Ibook. Yesterday when I went to start up the laptop, it got as far as the Starting MAC OSx screen and that is where it stopped. I took the battery out and let it sit for awhile but it is still doing the same. Is there anyway to fix this problem so I can back up my file before the hard drive goes

Do you have access to another mac and a firewire cable? If so, start up your iBook while holding down T. That should boot it up in 'target disk mode' where it will act like an external hd to the other mac, so you can get your files off the hd.

Do you have access to another mac and a firewire cable? If so, start up your iBook while holding down T. That should boot it up in 'target disk mode' where it will act like an external hd to the other mac, so you can get your files off the hd.
Thanks for the idea, but I do not have access to another MAC. Should I try to startup it up with the Disk Utility disk in the laptop?? It is my wives laptop and I do not use an apple for work. She is really worried about losing all her data

You could, but that won't get you anywhere, at least I don't think it will. The disk will only get you to a utilities menu, I don't think you can access any flash or network drives to get the data copied.

Another suggestion would be to find a bootable ppc linux disk, that should give you access to the local hard drive and a usb flash drive. I've never done that before on a Mac, but I assume a live ppc linux disk should be able to read the Mac file system.